Moments Alone
by Doc Ling Beng
Summary: Upon a stormy night on a vacation, Neji goes missing and Tenten goes looking for him. Chapter 2 up!
1. A Night Together

Note: The author of this fanfic story only borrowed from the characters of _Naruto._

* * *

**Moments Alone**

Rain pounded the glass window with such ferocity that Tenten was forced awake from a dreamless, deep sleep. Lightning tore into the scene of black cotton clouds while the wind whistled through the eaves of the old yet comfortable inn where Team Gai stayed in the Sea Village. They have just finished a mission and went to the Sea Village for some bit of vacation, which the Godaime said that they could have.

They stayed in the village for three days already with Lee and Gai enjoying the waves, swimming to their hearts' content. Neji, on the other hand, dwelled in the inn and has hung about in the town book store to browse some titles. He could not be persuaded to stroll on the sand and look for collectible seashells and smooth white and black stones, which Tenten mostly did.

Tenten shivered as she drew her blanket tighter around herself. She sat up and removed Lee's left leg, which was insinuated in the space between her legs. She stifled her resentment as Lee could not help being a restless sleeper who has a tendency to thrash about his legs and arms. There was one time when he almost gouged out one of Neji's eyes while sleeping. Neji did not lie down beside Lee ever again, for obvious reasons.

Tenten slid her hand inside the cover of Neji's sleeping bag. Its coldness conveyed that its occupant has long left its cocoon. _Where could he be_, Tenten thought. _It's past midnight and he has not slept much._

She stood up, wrapped in her voluminous thick blanket lined with fleece. It was a luxury she could not resist and saved up enough ryos to buy it. As soon as she had the amount she needed, she burst into the shop where she first glimpsed it and delighted the kindly Toshi-san with her extravagant purchase, since Tenten was known in Konoha Market for her frugal and haggling ways.

After looking into the dining and bar area to see if Neji is basking beside the fireplace, which Lee oohed and aahed at for several embarrassing minutes, Tenten could not get out of there fast enough because of the discomfiting gaze of two men sharing a table and a bottle of liquor. She ignored their calls for Girl with the Long Hair join them and followed an impulse to go back upstairs and trudge up to the unlit rickety stairs that end up into a long, rambling room.

"They really need to repair these stairs before someone injures—"

The roar of lightning drowned out the rest of Tenten's words and her sense of self-preservation took over. Due to the static electricity the ends of her hair stood up on end, Tenten scrambled down the stairs and was about to go back to the team's rented room, vocally damning Neji to electrocution and a sleepless night. The racket she made alerted the one upstairs.

"So I'm to be skewered, rained upon outside, hit by lightning and left behind?" that voice commented, stopping Tenten's flood of litany and her tracks back to the sleeping quarters.

"What are you doing up there without a blanket? It's cold, if you did not notice?" Tenten looked up to Neji who was lounging against the open doorway of the room, his white eyes glowing in the dark like a cat's. She was surprised to see that he is smiling. Smiling! Hyuuga Neji does not smile if he can help it. He likes to keep a touch-me-not and stoic expression. The Neji she sees now is relaxed and openly showing his amusement, almost as if he has downed half a bottle of something alcoholic.

Tenten put her hands on her hips and frowned, almost dislodging the blanket from her shoulders. "Are you tipsy, Neji? You know wine does not agree with you at all." Climbing up the stairs, Tenten peered at her teammate's face and saw that his complexion is tinged with a rosy pink that made him look like a girl more than ever, especially with his long, straight, coffee-brown hair, long lashes, marble-white skin and thin, rosy lips. He looks like a model for a painting of a young lady ready for bed and dreams, Tenten whispered mentally to herself, as she took him in in his sleeping robe. Looking further, she measured the width of his shoulders with a look and mentally visualized his magnificent (as Ino has said one time) chest and six-pack belly. Nah, he looks a god, she refuted, ready to engage in intimacy for the night with a chosen consort.

Upon reaching the landing, Tenten sniffed at the air close to Neji's mouth. At his surprised, 'What are you doing' and stepping back like a scalded black and white-spotted cat, she answered that she's smelling for whiffs of alcohol fumes, neglecting to mention the woodsy scent of his aftershave, the fresh fragrance of his hair and a smell that seems to be strictly his.

Another round of lightning clapped and appeared outside the window behind Neji. The sight of the forked electricity and the deafening roar startled Tenten to step back unconsciously to the stairs. She almost slipped and fell down, if not for a pair of hard-muscled arms with their leashed strength encasing themselves around to the middle of her back, trapping her unbound hair with his hands.

Ignoring the awkward moments as Tenten's face was forced to nestle against the crook of Neji's shoulder and neck, the both of them separated slowly from each other.

"Let's go back to sleep. It's cold here." Tenten picked up a corner of her blanket and swathed it around herself. "Besides, you felt like ice. You must be frozen already."

"I feel warm inside. I drank some sake to be able to stand the cold." Neji turned his back and went inside.

"I knew it." Tenten shook her head at herself and followed Neji. Why she feel compelled to be with him, she cared not to think over. It might have something to do with hearing Lee and Gai-sensei's combined concert of jarring snores, caused by a cold after cavorting in the beaches for long hours day and night.

/////\\\\\

Neji motioned to a pallet he scrounged from the linen closet and waited for Tenten to make herself comfortable before joining her. He offered her an o-choko of sake, before pouring his own measure. The flask was near gone, with only five swallows left behind. He passed the flask to Tenten and left the sake for her to finish. He went back to looking out to the majestic sight of nature fighting it out as the wind tried to whop the earth into submission with rain pouring down and down like an endless falls coming from the seas in the heavens. The lightning joined in trying to frighten the motionless and stoic earth with its trees swaying with the wind. He saw Tenten close her eyes and cover her ears in his peripheral vision.

"How can you stand this noise?" she asked, popping a nut into her mouth when the lightning stopped and the thunder grumbled like a child deprived of a longed-for sweet.

"Don't you see the beauty of the world outside?"

"No. All I see are black blobs of shape that could be trees and feel the draft of this room that must be nearing the freezing point."

Neji felt small just sitting there beside Tenten. Of course she could not see what he does, as her eyesight is inferior to his and could not look at the things he beholds now. He noted her sarcasm, and realized that she is sleepy. Tenten was always snippy when she could not get to sleep outside the time of her missions.

"Why don't you get back to our room, lie down and slide into slumber?"

"Can't. Lee and Gai-sensei are snoring each other to sleep." Tenten lied down on the pallet and closed her eyes. "Wake me up when you're ready to go back." Moments later, she succumbed to sleep.

Neji arranged the blanket around Tenten more securely. He pinned the edges around her sides, leaving only her head uncovered until she looked as if she were swaddled. Unaware that he was smiling with an utmost tender look in his face, Neji brushed away with his fingers some of Tenten's hair which fell over her face. She looked as plain as ever, with her skin bronzed by the heat of the sun and her hair like the chocolate she loves so much. She's as comfortable as a well-loved hobby when she's hanging around with him or training with him. She can also be as tedious as a bratty Hanabi-sama when she nags. In fact, she can be more tedious, he thought as he smiled wider, for she knows how to push his buttons and make him bow to her wishes. She could work him like a puppet, even unaware as she is of that tidbit. He knew for the rest of his days that he would be haunted by the memory of snapping golden eyes that looked at him straight, unwary and unafraid of his eyes that are strange for the rest of people outside his clan.

She is his wildflower, one who grew despite his lack of encouragement to the friendship she offered when they first met as new teammates. She persisted in staying with him even with his cutting remarks on her meager skills in their genin days and cold shoulder treatment.

Neji smirked at the poetic bent of his musing and tapped the tip of Tenten's nose. Her forehead wrinkled a little and her hand freed itself from the blanket and slapped at the hand that touched her. He chuckled at Tenten, his fierce teammate, friend and—what? Neji could not ponder further what Tenten is to him. His lids fell on eyes tired from its vigil and his limbs went down beside Tenten's form as he snatched back his own blanket to stave off the cold.

/////\\\\\

Tenten woke up to find Neji's face close to her own. Her nose wrinkled as her mind registered the reek of sake from his breath. His lips were curved in a smile, as if he was dreaming about something that amused him. She reached to touch his face but decided not to, afraid that she would wake him. She would miss seeing this relaxed side of him, this facet which enabled him to sleep so close to her. The only times he got as close are their taijutsu sessions.

Tenten smiled. He sure is funny when he goes tipsy; more so when he's drunk. He loosens up and tells witty jokes. In this situation, he became quite cuddly. Thank goodness that only she witnessed his one accidental overindulgence when a harried server mixed up their drinks with hard liquor. They just got home from a mission and were very thirsty then, so they drank with quick swallows. Having no experience with alcohol, they continued to drink except Gai-sensei who quickly incapacitated Lee with one blow and led him away from the crowd. Tenten was left with Neji, whom she took to her apartment to give themselves something for the tipsiness, since he'd never live it down if Naruto and Kiba saw his lapse in dignity and austerity, especially the Godaime who would have delighted in making side comments about her most uptight and prissiest and also, newest and youngest jounin.

The soughing sounds of the sea and the faint sunbeams made Tenten snap out of her thoughts. She gingerly took off her blanket and went still and steady when Neji stirred and moved on to lie on his back, his left arm covering his eyes. His lips quirked into a downside curve as if irritated.

Tenten slowly stood up and walked to the window on the side wall where the sea could be seen. Her eyes became glued to the sight of the sea crashing its waves against the rocky cliffs. Over and over, the sea sent her waves to pound against the craggy rocks as if to dare them to fall down. The sunlight streaked across the sky into a mosaic of colors from blue to violet, then to pink and yellow.

AS the dark blues and violets faded and yellow brightened, Tenten took a deep breath and sighed as she saw Lee in his spandex already outside, looking for something. Or most likely, two someones.

_Time to join the throng._

Gai-sensei would not like it if she and Neji were late to breakfast. He and Lee were planning to race back to Konoha and do not like it if the sun gets too hot. But then, Tenten sat back on the ledge of the window by the sea and looked back at Neji. She would sometimes glance back to the sea and gaze at the blue sheen of the waves, then back to her slumbering teammate. She waited for the sun to come out of her shroud of clouds before shaking one of Neji's shoulders gently.

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A/N: Should I add to this or stop it at this point? Please read and review! :-)


	2. A New Couple!

Note: The author of this fanfic story only borrowed from the characters of _Naruto._

* * *

**Moments Alone**

Continuation

"Hmp!" Tenten swept all the things on her desk off to the floor with one swipe of her arm and ignored the clatter they made as they banged on the wood. A creaky, cranky voice from the apartment below hers told her to "Keep it down, young missy!" to which Tenten responded with an uncharacteristic stamp of her foot. After sitting down on her bed, Tenten spread her thighs and set her elbows on her knees to support her aching head. She stamped her foot again and glared through the spaces between her fingers at the cross-stitching she was working on. She straightened her spine and closed the space between her legs, lowered her lids and took deep breaths slowly. She did not take any notice of the irritated thumping on her floor, which was undoubtedly caused by Morito-san, the oldest resident in the apartment building by his sixty-four years.

At the tenth exhale, Tenten took up her towels and her thicker robe. It was wintertime already and it was so cold that her breath sometimes fogged as she breathed. She went down to the communal bath on the ground floor where she refreshed herself with a well-deserved soak in one of the large tin tubs. She just came in at her apartment three-quarters of an hour ago after a more rigorous than usual training session with Neji.

"He sure is energetic today." Tenten remarked to herself as she closed her eyes and leaned back on the tub. She dozed and woke up fifteen minutes later with the water so cold, her jaw started to shake as if she's fighting off tears.

After a washing and a trip back upstairs to her studio in the third level, Tenten sighed at the mess her bad temper caused. She scooped up the cross-stitch, her thinning spools of thread, needles, a crumpled pattern, and placed them back on the table before she picked up a group of photo frames. The glass covers seem to have all survived, all except for—

"Oh no!" Tenten hugged to her chest a frame which has lost its glass. She then looked at the picture so intently as if willing it to stay intact. She placed the picture back on its position of glory on the middle of her desk, put back all the other pictures and went to her closet where she pulled fresh undergarments and her old cotton nightgown. It was given to her as a parting gift from Mame-san, the manager of Konoha's orphanage. The nightgown was worn in places due to years of use and continued washing. The hem which used to reach down to her toes was now at the top of her knee. Since it was too cold to consider such nightwear, Tenten put the nightgown back and had put on pajamas instead, thick socks and other articles for the season, since the heater in the apartment was weaker and needed to be repaired once again.

Lying down on her bed with five blankets, Tenten looked back at the picture on the middle of her desk and got caught up in memories as her mind went back to the day the picture was taken. In the picture's far right, there was a man in a bowl-cut hairdo standing in his trademark position, his right-hand thumb up and the rest of his fingers fisted while showing off his white, perfect teeth. On his right was his junior look-alike who jumped with his arms spread-eagled. He bumped the girl with her hair in two buns on her temples. The girl's eyes and mouth were open in irritated surprise as she caught her balance by clutching the shoulders of a frowning, long-haired boy who managed to maintain his momentum as he let the girl hold onto him.

The masked man behind the camera caught the whole tableau. He laughed when the long-haired boy lost his balance due to the junior bowl-cut's excited jumping jacks after the picture taking. The boy with the long hair fell with the girl to the rough, sharp grass. The masked man only stopped laughing when he caught sight of two white orbs fixed on him with murderous intent.

Bowl-cut Man gently reprimanded his junior. He wanted to have a try at a more formal group picture but the remaining male member of his team stalked off after snapping at bun girl's profuse apologies. He scathed about how his time was wasted on such tomfoolery, before walking away with the Bowl-cut Man calling after him.

Tenten winced at the memory. She got used to the long-haired boy's snappy attitude but didn't miss it one bit after it turned to a softer yet still firm demeanor. Her lips smoothed with a smile as she closed her eyes and let the darkness and cold engulf her in sleep.

* * * * *

The next morning, after she went to Morito-san and apologized for her rude behavior, Tenten went to the Hyuuga compound and asked Hinata to show her how to form a shape she was having trouble with in her stitching. After thanking Hinata abundantly, Tenten left the compound and went inside Shikamaru's cubicle in the Chuunin Office. He was sitting with his hands crossed on his nape with his sandaled feet up on the edge of his desk. He was dozing and opened the eye nearer to the door to see who dared interrupt his nap before lunch, which would soon be invaded by Chouji. When he saw Tenten, he smiled in greeting and yawned while stretching his arms upward. He straightened his posture and aligned his swivel chair to the desk with his fingers idly tapping the wood.

"What?"

"Just here to return the documents you foisted on me." Tenten paused as she considered where to place the five-inch pile of paper she was holding. The desk was cluttered with disks and computer, a tray with crumpled sandwich wrappers, an earthenware cup and a pitcher and papers untidily placed in the IN and OUT holders. As the cubicle is about the size of a closet, there was little space to be had except for walking around the desk to the opening.

Shikamaru stood up and took the documents from her and pushed with his feet a pile of papers under his desk. He put Tenten's papers on the side of his left foot.

"Thanks, Tenten. I really needed the help. Shizune demands that I finish here but there's just too much of it—"

"No need to explain. I resigned myself to help poor lazy you since I already finished my own load."

Shikamaru ignored the affront since it is true. "Thanks anyway."

The sounds of fingers pressing the computer's keyboards became clearer as a quiet descended in the cubicle. A sentimental popular love song about love lost and another love found was playing in a radio two cubicles away. Shikamaru laid down his head on hands he intertwined for the purpose.

Tenten debated with herself whether or not to ask Shikamaru with his and Ino's problems with their stormy friendship. After being ambushed by missions for months, Tenten was not able to catch up with her girl friends and missed many heart-to-heart talks. Before she left the compound, Hinata confided in her that she feels frustrated on not being able to advise Ino with her love problems. She narrated how Ino cried one night a week ago and hiccupped while telling how she could not move on after Shikamaru's reaction to her confession of deepening feelings for him. Ino told how long his silence was, so much so that it seemed that years were creeping with the minutes as she waited for his answer, which was composed of only…three…words. He said, "I'm sorry, Ino," and walked away from her with a slow gait which angered Ino so much she threw a decent-sized rock at him that he dodged with a mere positioning of his neck to the left.

Tenten grabbed her courage by the ruff of its neck and directly asked how Shikamaru is coping with Ino's avoiding him then the cold shoulder and sarcastic treatment. Her fellow chuunin raised his head and examined the IN and OUT trays littered with candy wrappers as if they hold the answers to the universe's most pressing issues. After a few moments, Shikamaru responded with a question. "How is she?"

Tenten shuffled her feet and admitted to herself that she should not have opened up this can of worms with Shikamaru. "I did ask her about that when I saw her today on the flower shop but she just hugged me and thanked me for my concern."

Shikamaru rested his right cheek against his right fist with a little smile playing on his lips. "I could hug and say 'Thank you, Tenten, for your concern,' but someone would see us and that tidbit would reach _that person_ who'd pound me for touching delicate little you."

Tenten waved her mittened hand a little and did not rise up to Shikamaru's attempt to get her goat. She knew that Shikamaru knows that she hates to be called 'delicate' or some such word. "Oh, Neji doesn't care about things like that."

Shikamaru straightened his posture and leaned back on his chair. He stretched his arms by holding on to the edge of his desk. At Tenten's reply, his smile widened. "Did I say that _Neji_ would be the one to fight me? I could have meant Gai-sensei."

Tenten snorted and rolled her eyes. "Gai-sensei would have teared up and bawled. He would have announced to all and sundry how his little flower is growing away from him and is now hugging a member of the opposite sex, enjoying the springtime of her youth. Lee would have joined him too. Together, they would throw a party for me with a green motif with little pink hearts hanging from the ceiling." Tenten raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru and silently dared him to refute her.

Shikamaru shuddered at the image Tenten's words caused. He was about to make a rejoinder when someone knocked on the cubicle wall. He and Tenten turned simultaneously and saw Shizune. At her entrance, Shizune remarked at how lucky she was to catch both of them together. Before either Tenten or Skimamaru could ask what she meant, Shizune explained that Tsunade-sama wants to see them both in her office.

* * * * *

"So you two would be going to Suna and stay there for two weeks for the goodwill games and the New Year festival. You will accompany and supervise two genin teams who will serve as our representatives for the games. Intervene when necessary if fights erupt between our teams and those of the other villages. Coordinate with the shinobi of Suna to do so. Guard your backs against the other representatives especially with the Cloud Village. Understand?"

Tenten and Shikamaru nodded in sync.

"Since the Kazekage himself requested the both of you to supervise our two genin teams, I want no protest from you two." Tsunade looked pointedly at Shikamaru who was staring at the panorama in the window behind the Hokage's chair. Tsunade threw a paperweight at Shikamaru's direction. "Nara, pay attention!"

Shikamaru caught the projectile in mid-air with his shadow technique and made it float back to its original position.

After narrowing her unlined hazel eyes at Shikamaru, Tsunade continued her instructions. "As I was saying…"

Tenten could not get herself to listen. She wanted to shout, "No! Please send somebody else!" But the moment she heard about Gaara's request for her and Shikamaru, she became puzzled. There were no real interaction with her and the readhead Kage of Suna. _Why could he want her to come_, she thought. _Maybe Temari-san is bored and wants to poke fun at me_.

"You would start your journey in three days and stay in Sunakagure for two weeks…"

_Wait. Two weeks?! No! I can't possibly finish the cross-stitch in three days! The New Year festival in Konoha is in _seven days_ and I have not yet finished with the last—_

"Tenten!"

"Hai!" Startled, Tenten looked straight at the Hokage and the vein which seems to be about to burst open near a temple on her forehead. The Hokage was showing her teeth and not in a smile, either. More like a grimace of supreme annoyance. Thank the _kami_ that she has learned to school her face to show no expression, thanks to many years of companionship with Neji.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama. I was…thinking about the mission." Tenten looked into Tsunade's eyes straight, her hands still at her sides. At her peripheral vision, she saw Shikamaru look at her and smirk.

"Any thing you want to clarify?"

"None, Hokage-sama."

"All right, then. Dismissed!"

* * * * *

"Wah!" Tenten pressed her mittened palms to her cheeks pinkened by the weather. "Shikamaru!"

"What?"

Tenten just shook her head and did not say anything. She picked up the salt and pepper shakers instead and clicked them against each other. At her non-answer, Shikamaru sighed, looked up to the ceiling and muttered, "Girls."

The two chuunin were sitting in a table for four in a corner of Ichiraku's. They were waiting for Chouji to arrive, since he would be the one who would pay for all their lunch.

"Let me guess. You don't want to go to Suna."

"You're a mind reader." Tenten set her elbows on the table and pressed her hands to her cheeks again. She looked down at the wood and exhaled through her nose. Shikamaru smirked at her pouting lips and thought of a certain jounin who would be most put out if there would come a time when he, Nara Shikamaru, would go on a date with Tenten.

_Neji is hemming and hawing like a darn hamster,_ Shikamaru thought. _Why couldn't he see that he's_ so_ into this girl in front of me?_

Just then, a girl with her hair in braids skipped to their table and greeted both of them. She was Kimi, a genin, and was whispered to be a budding gossip. Shikamaru had a nasty premonition over the whole scenario. He winced as he planned his coming funeral. After bowing, Kimi went out again and forgot to pay for her order in her excitement. As Teuchi was swearing malevolently about non-paying customers, Shikamaru listened in sympathy while he deliberated on a good epitaph.

* * * * *

It was more than half past eight in the morning. Weak sunlight pierced the cloud-covered sky that cast down so much wet snow that it made flying to the trees slippery. Neji was nearing his old team's training grounds. He was running late, which was unusual in itself, as Hyuuga Neji and late do not come together. He had woke up late today for he could not sleep for almost half the night due to a rumor he heard from a braided girl who claimed to have seen Tenten and Shikamaru, _alone_, having lunch together at Ichiraku yesterday. According to a braided girl's dubious eyewitness accounting, Tenten and Shikamaru's heads were so close together as they sat side by side and whispered sweet-nothings to each other's ears. This girl had then went out to the training grounds and all over town to spread the news that Tenten and Shikamaru is an item.

When Neji heard this story, he clenched a fist on his side and leashed his desire to Jyuuken the girl. He just turned his back on the noisy female and snapped that if she does not stop spouting such nonsense and make herself scarce, he would—

Neji's fingers spread themselves at the memory, as if seeking tenketsu to close. Tenten and Shikamaru together. The picture sickened him so much he wanted to gag. Yesterday, he cursed Tenten while mulling over why she is having lunch with the lazy, good-for-nothing-but-fighting bum. He was so furious he could not concentrate on his meditation and almost broke the earthenware utensils in the tea ceremony he officiated for his uncle yesterday afternoon. Hiashi asked what bothered him with concern but he could not answer with the bubbling cauldron he had become. He bowed his head and asked to be excused, which further perplexed his uncle and the elders.

Neji does not know why he cared so much about the rumor. He did not want to analyze why because he was too busy thinking of the two of them together and keeping the lid on his temper. But deep in his consciousness, Neji thought of reasons why he was feeling this way. The results are three conclusions:

1) Maybe he's mad because only he, Lee or Gai used to have lunch with Tenten together;

2) Maybe he doesn't want Tenten for that unworthy pineapple head whose lazy demeanor, which only changes when he's playing shogi or engaged in battle; or,

3) Maybe he's just the plain, old-fashioned green-eyed monster now that Tenten's with another guy who seemed (in the girl's account) terribly interested in her enough to cause a public spectacle.

Neji shook off the third conclusion. No. That could not be possible. To be jealous was to mean that he, Hyuuga Neji has deeper feelings for his teammate of more than three years.

As he traversed the last sludgy, snow-frosted tree, he heard Lee moaning about how Tenten would be gone, gone, gone, which almost made him slid down had he not caught his balance in time.

He jumped down behind Lee who turned to face him. He barely restrained himself from keeping his face away from Lee's as he took a deep breath to regulate his voice. At a reasonably modulated tone, he asked, "What do you mean she'd be gone?"

* * * * *

A/N: Thank you for those who have enjoyed this story. Special thanks to those who made this their favorites! Thank you for your appreciation. As always, please read and review, as your comments are most precious to this writer.


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